Page 66 of Witch Unbound
It was working. “Let her go or burn!”
A low moan filled the air and Bramble screamed.
“Shit, Cora, you’ve pissed it off.” Lauris stared at me in panic, then back up at Bramble.
Above us, Bramble’s face was covered by a fresh branch. Her muffled screams filtered around gaps in the wood, and more blood dripped from her wrists as the slender branches holding her slid and cut deep into her flesh.
“Stop it!” Lauris ordered, striding toward the fire, intent on snuffing it out.
I shoved him back. “No. Wait. It has to let her go. Its self-preservation will kick in.”
I tipped my head up and raised my voice. “I will burn you down if you don’t release her.” I walked away from the tree so I was standing between the two aggressors. “I’ll burn this whole fucking forest down.”
Bramble’s muted sobs intensified.
I stalked over to the fire and added more fuel to the flame. It crackled and flared up like a hungry phoenix.
The forest moaned in protest.
“I mean it! Let her go or youwillburn.”
Blood flowed freely now, hitting the earth in a pitter-patter. Bramble’s sobs turned to shrill whines of agony and my stomach twisted with doubt.
“You’re making it worse,” Lauris cried.
Oh, shit. Oh, fuck, the blood, so much blood. This wasn’t working.
My resolve snapped. “Stop! Just stop!” I kicked at the fire, putting it out. “You win. Just let her go. Please.”
Bramble’s whines grew shriller, and she made a wet gurgling sound.
Panic clamped its fist around my heart. “Let her go!” I hammered the tree trunk with my fist, tears of impotence blurring my vision. “Let her—”
A strange cracking sound cut through the air, and then, with a rustle, the branches released Bramble.
Lauris rushed forward to catch her. She landed in his arms, head at an odd angle, arm bent back at the elbow, broken, shattered, pale skin criss-crossed with weeping welts, wings crumpled and torn. She stared at me with accusing, glassy, dead eyes.
My heart stalled and ice flooded my veins. “Bramble?”
Lauris gently cradled her to his chest, peering down at her with an expression I’d seen on my guys’ faces many times.
Love and pain.
“Bramble?” His tone was tentative. “Bramble, please…”
But her eyes were empty. She wasn’t breathing. She was…No!
My bottom lip trembled as the reality of the situation washed over me. “She can’t be…she can’t…” My voice was a whisper buried beneath Lauris’s chest-quaking sobs.
No, fuck no. “Bramble, wake the fuck up.”
Lauris met my gaze with silvery vengeance. “She’s dead. They released her because she’s dead. And it’s all your fault.”
Chapter Sixteen
“You did this!” Lauris growled. “You think you know best. You take risks, and it gets others hurt.” The vitriol in his tone barely registered through the haze of disbelief clouding my mind.
“Back off!” Rune stepped between us, shoulders bunched with suppressed aggression. “That isn’t fair, and you know it. Cora has put her life on the line more than anyone I know, and this…” He looked down at Bramble and the tension bled out of him. “It wasn’t her fault. She was trying to help.”
